CHAPTER 8 VOLUME AND CAPACITY OF CONES, PYRAMIDS, AND SPHERES

Lesson 4
Composite 3-D Objects

As you look around for examples of volume and capacity, you may find
many objects are more complex than the shapes you have considered
far (prism, cylinder, cone, pyramid, and sphere). Rather, many objects
combinations of shapes. These are called composite 3-D objects.

One example is a hopper-style grain bin that has a cylinder section and a cone
on each end. Houses are usually at least two prisms joined together (such as a
triangular prism on top of a rectangular prism). We could even consider an ice
cream cone as a sphere (or hemisphere) on top of a cone.

This last lesson of Unit D looks at how to find the volume or capacity of
composite 3-D objects. This requires understanding of how to use each of
the individual volume and capacity formulas from the previous lessons is this
unit.

Similar to finding the surface area of 3-D objects, finding the volume or capacity
of composite 3-D objects does not require new learning. It requires the use of
the formulas you have learned for prisms, cylinders, cones, pyramids, and
spheres.
It is important to see what shapes make up the composite. After you recognize
the shapes, you can find the volume or capacity of each individual shape and
then add them together. Finding volume and capacities of composites will seem
simpler than finding surface area because you do not need to draw a net! The
best way to learn this is to try examples.

The effect of dimensional changes on volume and capacity depends on

the shapes involved. If a dimension is squared or cubed, a change in
that dimension is far greater than if a dimension is not squared or cubed.
Each scenario is different.